Advances in E-learning-Experiences and Methodologies

Training Teachers for E-Learning need to improve their educational outcomes and validate the skills developed in their job. In this field much is to be made in order to prepare ordinary teachers to become adult teachers with skills and competences allowing them to bring to their pupils an attractive, flexible, and accurate learning. In many cases this involves that they too have to learn the new skills needed in the knowledge society. deveLoPIng teAcher trAInIng ProgrAmmes: Beyond Ict skILLs Teacher training as an efficient way to develop the skills needed for e-learning is not simple. As a matter of fact, it is a long-term aim which should be reached step by step through minor formative actions. The role of formal learning as a fist step towards lifelong learning is reinforced by the Recommendations of the European Parliament and the Council on key competences. Its first aim is to ensure that “initial education and training offers all young people the means to develop the key competences to a level that equips them for adult life, and which forms a basis for further learning and working life.” It is important to notice that e-learning involves the capability to acquire knowledge and develop skills within Web-based means. E-learning, when properly led, facilitates the metacognitive awareness needed in the field of “learning to learn.” Therefore, ICT in this context is just an enabler in a new means to learn that should also encompass several key elements such as learning design, collaborative learning, and social contexts. In spite of the fact that younger generations have grown up with ICT and are thus “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001), they are far from being digitally literate. Preliminary research released by Educational Testing Service (ETS) on November 14, 2006, shows that many students lack the critical thinking skills to perform the kind of information management and research tasks necessary for academic success. On the other hand, most teachers are “digital immigrants.” This situation in the average classroom reflects the digital divide that currently exists in Europe. Furthermore, quite often teachers feel less competent than their pupils in this field, and this is the reason why they do not risk integrating ICT to a greater extent (Barnes, Marateo, & Ferris, 2007). how is it Possible to train teachers in this Evolving Educational context? Therefore, when designing a teacher training course, a balance between technical and didactic contents is to be reached. In many cases the new ICT tools are introduced to teachers without pointing out clearly which are the didactic benefits they provide, or how far they could ease their daily work. Moreover, a great amount of funds are spent on courses whose results are rarely incorporated ino the daily work in the classroom. A few questions are to be asked when designing teacher training courses: • What kind of skills does the course intend to facilitate? • Are these new skills profitable for teachers at the end of the course, or could they even take advantage of them as they are attending the course? • If the didactic advantages are clear, is the related ICT presented as a means or does the course focus mainly on it? • How far does the course allow teachers to develop their creativity to incorporate the new skills in their own learning context? With these questions in mind, we will present the experience of a teacher training course that took place in 2005-2006. The study of this case will provide some basis for profitable conclusions.

Training Teachers for E-Learning A case study: training teachers for Formal Adult education within open Learning methodology The Educational Department of the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, Spain, offered a training course to the teacher staff working for adult education. It was held during 5 months (from February to June 2006), and certificated 100 training hours. It was carried out as a blended learning course, that is, there was one compulsory faceto-face meeting per month. It took place at three different islands (Lanzarote, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria), and 246 teachers from the seven Canary Islands registered. The participants worked at primary schools, vocational training centres, secondary schools, and Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (schools devoted to foreign languages). The “Curso de educación de personas adultas en modalidad no presencial” had as its main goal to introduce adult education features, in order to develop the required skills for open education, using ICT as a helpful means. The general learning objectives of the training course were stated as follows: a. To approach teachers to the theories and practices related to adult education. b. To deliver basic knowledge about the specifications of this field of education. c. To recognize and analyze the features of distance learning, the related methodology and specially the tutorial and advisor role of the teachers. Accordingly, the course structure aimed to combine individual and group learning activities, supported on the Internet, through a learning management system (LMS), and completed with face-to-face sessions, once a month. Previously, all participants had to attend a workshop in order to get basic skills on the use of a LMS, both as a student and as a tutor. In this case, it was Moodle 1.5.4., a well-known course management system designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction, integrating resources, and activities as well as assessment tools. The workshop was totally face-to-face, in groups of 20 participants, to allow hands-on experience with a computer under the guide of an instructor, during a total of 25 training hours. The contents of the course comprised five different thematic units: • Adult education features • Distance learning • Tutoring in adult education • Designing learning contents for adult education • ICT supported distance learning Every Unit was introduced by a face-to-face session in which some practical examples of the previous activities and units were given, the main topics of the new unit were underlined and directions for the further activities were offered. The face-to-face sessions were scheduled as large classes meetings (about 80 people) where the tutors acted mainly as traditional teachers, developing topics and giving general advise to follow the Unit. During the month, between face-to-face sessions, the teachers who had given a lecture in the ordinary one-to-many way, changed their function and supported open many-to-many discussion, as tutors online in the virtual main course. Therefore, during the five months the course was developed, every participant counted on the support and guidance of the tutor team, which, not only designed and delivered the learning contents and activities of each Unit, but also provided chat meeting, forum discussion, personal e-mail advice and technical support. At the end of the course, participants could choose between designing a learning Unit or creating learning content for a specific subject in the context of adult education.